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| Gates no longer world's richest man |
| 2008-03-06 |
| MICROSOFT founder Bill Gates has been knocked off his perch as the world's richest man after 13 years at the top, according to the Forbes annual billionaires' list. US financier Warren Buffett has overtaken Mr Gates as the world's richest in this year's list, which saw Russia, China and India making increasing inroads. Mr Buffett, the 77-year-old chief of the Berkshire Hathaway, saw his wealth jump from $US52 billion ($55 billion) last year to $US62 billion ($66 billion), pushing Microsoft co-founder Mr Gates into third position after 13 years as number one. Andrew Forrest is the top Australian on the list, the Fortescue boss coming in at 145 with a net worth of $US6.5 billion. Next Aussie on the list is James Packer at 173, with a net worth of $US5.7 billion. For billionaires with publicly traded fortunes, Forbes said the net worths were calculated using share prices and exchange rates from February 11, 2008. Mexico's telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu grabbed second place with a tidy nest egg of $US60 billion, up from $US49 billion last year. Mr Buffett, who announced in 2006 he was giving the majority of his fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, saw his wealth spike mostly due to the rising value of his Berkshire Hathaway stock. In total, this year's list sees 1125 people around the world making the billionaire's list, up from 946 last year. Their total net worth stands at $US4.4 trillion, up from $US3.5 trillion in 2007. By nationality, the United States still easily led the rankings with 469 billionaires up from 415 last year, but Russia replaced Germany as the second placed country with 87 billionaires. Third-placed India saw the number of its super-rich jump to 53 entries on the list -- four of them in the top 10 -- although China and Hong Kong would overtake India if they were counted together. China and Hong Kong have 42 and 26 billionaires respectively. Japan, although still the second largest economy in the world, saw its number of billionaires trailing at 24 - overtaken by Turkey, which this year saw its number of mega-tycoons on the list jump from 22 in 2007 to 35. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #2 Yes, but the Vista OS won't process it. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-03-06 13:12 |
| #1 Does he have a tip jar? |
| Posted by: Jitch, Scourge of the Veal Cutlets4098 2008-03-06 09:24 |